Citi FM’s western regional correspondent, Obrempong Yaw Ampofo, and a group of other journalists drawn from selected media houses across the country, have completed a six-month training in understanding and reporting on the oil and gas sector.
The training conducted by the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), which started in February 2016 among other things, took the journalists through understanding and breaking down the ‘complex’ reports published by the Finance Ministry and the Public Interest and Accountability Committee PIAC for citizens’ understanding.
“When we discovered oil, we all demanded transparency and accountability. The Finance Ministry and the PIAC have published a lot of reports on how oil revenues have been used so far. It is now up to our journalists to take up these reports and break them down for our greater society. But what happens when the journalists themselves do not have the capacity to understand the facts behind the numbers? This and more is the reason we took our first fellows through this ACEP Media Fellowship programme to position these journalists to have the capacity to understand the industry. And I must say, they are very well groomed for this task ahead,” Executive Director for ACEP Mohammed Amin Adam remarked at their graduation ceremony in Accra on Thursday.
The ACEP Media Fellows were taken through Petroleum Revenue Management and Fiscal Development, Local Content and Supply Chain, Petroleum Finance and Economics, Introduction to Petroleum Economics, Governance of oil and Gas, Petroleum Fiscal Systems etc.
Besides, there were field visits to Kosmos Energy Ghana and the Ghana Petroleum Commission after which each fellow chose a project topic to research on.
“They are ready to help shape the conversation on oil and gas governance. They are as equal as the experts you hear on radio and televisions. They are trained to speak with facts, and they are also prepared to use facts to police duty bearers”, Dr. Amin noted.
The training which will be a yearly fellowship for selected journalists across the country, is sponsored by Oxfam Ghana and the Norwegian Oil for Development Programme.
Media needs independent understanding of the oil sector
The Executive Director for the Africa Center for Energy Policy, ACEP, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, said the media can do more to increase demand for transparency and accountability when they build their capacity to independently research and highlight their findings in the sector.
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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana